Play video through Sony via Airport Extreme

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Level 1

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Play video through Sony via Airport Extreme

I have just purchased a Sony Bravia HX925 and need some help. I am trying to work out how to play video through the Airport Extreme network I have setup. The network itself is connected to the TV, but I can not view any files to play. It comes up with a Vuze" folder from viewing my MacBook Pro (despite no files in there), but can not see anything else. Ideally I would like to have a hard drive attached to the airport extreme directly, then be able to view that HD via the TV to play a movie. Can anyone advise some tips to be able to do this? Thanks - much appreciated!

Posted on Jun 10, 2011 10:30 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

157,884 points

Jun 11, 2011 12:47 PM in response to The Closeman

In order to stream video to your Sony HD TV, you will need a DLNA Media Server on your local network to serve up these files. A hard drive, attached to an AirPort Extreme (aka AirPort Disk), unfortunately does not make for a Media Server. At best, this combination would be a Media Storage device.

As an example, I use a software DLNA Media Server, called TwonkyServer. It runs on my G4 Power Mac and gets it media from an AirPort Disk. I stream these files to my Xbox 360 (DLNA Media Player), and then, on to my HD TV. Similarly, you can run this same or similar software on your MacBook Pro with an AirPort Disk to stream to your Sony.

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Answer 2

The Closeman Author

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23 points

Jun 11, 2011 2:43 PM in response to Tesserax

Thanks for your response Tesserax. I am a bit confused though. Sony have the functionality within the TV to be able to view anf play files through the network already. Airport Extreme already provide the functionality to be able to share files on the network. Its just a matter of getting them to play nicely together isnt it? What you suggest does look cool, but I fail to understand how I have to spend more money to play networked files when I got the top of the line TV. Not saying you are wrong, I just cant get my head around it if that is actually the case!

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Answer 3

The Closeman Author

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Jun 11, 2011 2:45 PM in response to Tesserax

So the DLNA is simply software to get the Sony to be able to view the views?

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Answer 4

Tesserax

Level 10

157,884 points

Jun 11, 2011 3:17 PM in response to The Closeman

You mentioned Vuze, which I believe is a Bittorrent client that runs on a PC or Mac(?) that used to be called Azureas. I don't believe this is something that your Sony is providing you built-in to their TV's Internet functionality; however, I can easily be wrong about that.

Regardless, I am guessing that your Sony is looking for media via a DLNA-compliant Media Server ... again, something that the AirPort Disk/AirPort combination is not.

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

157,884 points

Jun 11, 2011 3:23 PM in response to The Closeman

Not quite. DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a non-profit trade organization, established by Sony that is comprised of hundreds of industry members. Basically DLNA attempts to establish a standard to allow ease of streaming digital media across multiple vendors' products.

Again, the basics would be to have a DLNA-compliant Media Server and (at least) one DLNA-compliant Media Player (or Client). In this case your Sony TV would be the client.

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Answer 6

The Closeman Author

Level 1

23 points

Jun 11, 2011 5:47 PM in response to Tesserax

Yes Vuze was called Azureas. Sony doesn't build in functionality to use it as such. What I mean is, when you go to play videos via the Network, Vuze is displayed as an icon. Its a little bit odd, but I suspect its there to link directly into downloaded files from Vuze.

In relation to the DLNA installation, where am I installing this to - my Macbook that is accessing the hard drive that is connected to the Airport Extreme?

Appreciate your help.

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Answer 7

Tesserax

Level 10

157,884 points

Jun 11, 2011 8:51 PM in response to The Closeman

In relation to the DLNA installation, where am I installing this to - my Macbook that is accessing the hard drive that is connected to the Airport Extreme?

Yes. If you go the route of using a software DLNA-compliant Media Server, you would want to install and run that Media Server on one of your computers. You would then configure the server to access the media files located on the HDD attached to the Extreme.

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